Two charged with joyriding in water trucks at Honolulu Hills

Bakersfield men videotaped themselves while they were at it, deputies say

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Taft Midway Driller - Taft, CA

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Posted Feb. 27, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Updated Feb 27, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Posted Feb. 27, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Updated Feb 27, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Two Bakersfield men landed in jail in Taft after they went joyriding in water trucks at the Honolulu Hills Raceway early Saturday morning, the Kern County Sheriff's office reported.

The two men were arrested about 2:30 a.m. by deputies from the Taft substation, but not until they had raced the trucks on a track designed for dirt bikes and apparently videotaped themselves on their cell phones.

The deputies were responding to a call from a security person asleep at the off-road racing facility east of Taft who heard the tankers start up and saw the trucks driving around the track.

They also saw a Toyota pickup parked at the facility on Honolulu Hills Road two miles east of Airport Road.

Deputies arrived a few minutes later and the trucks were still driving, Sgt. Martin Downs said.

The suspects apparently saw the deputies, too. When deputies approached the now-stopped trucks, the suspects were no where to be seen.

So the deputies went back and waited.

Pretty soon the two suspects were seen walking back to the truck and were arrested.

"They just wanted to take it out and drive it around the race track, they said," related Sgt. Martin Downs.

Steven Michael Davies and Michael Tackett, both 20 and from Bakersfield, were charged with vehicle theft, conspiracy and trespassing.